


Blended

by SerenaJones



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Ainu - Freeform, Christmas, Coffee, Little Dragon Secret Santa, M/M, Trains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:56:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28305672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerenaJones/pseuds/SerenaJones
Summary: Much like coffee, people's flavors are often better when they're blended.Joyous Holidays Hideki!
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Blended

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hideki_LaShae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hideki_LaShae/gifts).



Seto sipped his coffee, a mocha-java-kenya blend he had custom blended by an Ethiopian coffee master living in Texas. Japan was a country that valued the pure, the untainted, but some things truly benefited from combining the yin from here with the yang from there.

He sipped his coffee, flexed his shoulders and re-crossed his legs. Patience was a virtue. He checked his tablet and determined that none of his news feeds had updated in the last three minutes. He sighed heavily.

"Tell me again why we are taking the ten hour train instead of the ninety minute plane?"

"Because," Jou said, looking up from his game, "the train's cheaper."

"Seriously?"

"And you can't see the scenery from a plane."

"It's 10pm. There is no scenery."

"Trains are more romantic."

"More cramped and less privacy."

"Than a plane?"

"Than my plane, yes."

"Aw, we got privacy. We got a two person sleeper car."

"As soon as they are available. And I had to argue with you over that." Seto sipped his coffee again. "None of that explains why we are wasting a full day of our vacation. We could have flown to Hokkaido this morning and spent the day skiing in Rusutsu."

"Yeeeaaahhh," Jou looked away.

"Something wrong? That was the plan, correct?"

"It is - it was - I mean, yeah. Yeah, I made reservations at this great resort! Skiing, hot springs, the works. You're gonna love it when we get there. Wednesday."

Seto paused. He sipped his coffee to keep from saying the first thing that came to mind. Part of what kept their relationship alive was him not giving vent to every perceived error or inconvenience. He sipped again because a more inventive comment came to mind.

"Yeah, ok, so here it is," Jou said quickly before Seto could find something civil to say. "I promised Mom we'd spend a couple days with her and my grandmother."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Since she and Shizuka are in Hokkaido now, and we were thinking about going there anyway, I sort of figured this would be a good time to, y'know, meet."

"I see." The coffee was empty.

Meeting Jou's mother.

He'd met his lover's younger sister ages ago when she had been part of the surreal nightmare that had been Battle City. But shortly after Seto and Jou graduated college and officially began dating, the sister and mother left from Domino.

Meeting your lover's family typically was a sign that your relationship had reached a level of stability. Seto didn't have any family to meet since Mokuba had known Jou from the beginning. But Jou had parents, and apparently grandparents.

"And you were going to tell me this when?"

"During the ten hour train ride to Nibutani." Jou smiled sheepishly. "I wasn't sure how you'd react."

"Not pleased." Seto frowned. "If I had known in advance, I could have planned for two weeks instead of one."

"Are you mad?"

Seto considered it. "Annoyed, yes. Truly angry, no. You could have simply told me in advance. As it stands, I don't have an omiyage."

"Mom won't care about that!"

"I care about that. Hopefully I can find something suitable in Sapporo."

"We're not going to Sapporo. We transfer about an hour and a half before that in Tomakomai. Mom's in Mukawa now. She opened a restaurant there, making traditional stuff like salmon soup and millet dumplings."

"I'm not familiar with either of those."

"Yeeeaaahhh."

Jou looked away again.

"Is there something wrong with my not being familiar with those dishes?"

"No." Jou huffed. "Ok. There's something I haven't told you, and I don't know how you're gonna react, so I kinda wasn't planning on ever saying anything 'cause it doesn't really matter, right? But Mom was making a big thing about meeting you if we're really serious, and we are - at least, I think we are. I hope we are. I mean, are we? Are we really -"

"Stop chasing your own tail and speak like you have more than two brain cells! If you don't think this relationship is worth your time then why are you dragging me across half the country?"

"You said you weren't mad about that!"

"I wasn't! But I will not tolerate being lied to!"

"Lied to? What the hell? I never said I wasn't Ainu! It's just never came up before!"

"What!?"

"What?!"

Seto took a deep breath. "I'm going to the restroom. When I return, you are going to coherently, directly tell me what the hell you are talking about."

He got up and swayed with the train through the next two cars to find an available bathroom. If Seto had made the arrangements, they would have taken a luxury car with a living room, dining room, bedroom and full bathroom with hot tub. But no. Jou wanted to surprise him. Let's go skiing for Christmas, he said. I wanna take you somewhere fun, he said. And Seto let himself be persuaded.

The public facility was cramped. There were wet spots on the floor and the seat that Seto tried to convince himself were water. The train shuttered as he relieved himself, causing him to lose his balance and miss the bowl.

"Damn it," he snarled.

He was able to peel a few squares of paper off the roll before the toilet paper dispenser jammed. There were only two seat covers left, and no paper towels. He started to leave it when someone tapped on the door.

"Damn!" He huffed. "Just a minute," he called out.

He dried the seat as best he could, and rolled his eyes when the knock came again.

Outside was a young boy with his legs crossed. He pushed past Seto and hardly paused to close the door. Seto washed his hands. Twice.

He passed the snack trolley on his way back to his seat. After debating the options, he selected a pair of ekiben, one with pork cutlets and one with seafood.

When he returned, however, it was to find the conductor with Jounouchi and their sleeper cabin was ready. They moved to the narrow room, passing through the standard row of sleepers.

"Honda and I did this one time," Jou observed. "It was fun."

"Sharing slots in a drawer with the rest of the silverware? Yes. I'm sure."

"You gonna be pissy the rest of the trip?"

"Only if the trip is as well thought out as it has been so far."

The conductor opened a cabin door and escaped while they entered.

Tried to enter. The room was too narrow for them both with the door open. Jou had to slip into the lower bed so that Seto could enter and close the door.

"You are never making our travel arrangements again." He handed Jou the cutlet bento.

His lover smirked. Out of his backpack, he handed Seto a seafood bento. "I get that much right?"

"Hmmph." Seto pulled himself up on the upper bunk and opened the meal. "What have you neglected to tell me?"

He heard the wrapper from Jou's meal. "It's not a big deal, really. Just, y'know, some people can be racist pricks, right?"

"Have I ever commented on your mixed blood before?"

"Uh, seriously?"

"When?"

"You called me a mutt for, like, four years!"

Seto waived it off. "I referred to you by a number of canine terms. Irrelevant. What does you being half Japanese have to do with anything?"

"I'm not half Japanese. I'm half Ainu."

Seto peered down at Jou. "You may have Ainu ancestry, but the people themselves have long -"

"No. See? This is why I don't tell anyone. My grandma and my mom are both straight Ainu. Grandma lives in Nibutani Village; she even has the lip tattoo."

"You are telling me that you are the last of the Ainu? Didn't the prefecture announce that the group died out a few years ago?"

"That was one ass, and he almost lost his seat over that shit. No, there aren't many left, but we're not gone yet."

"We're? So you consider yourself one of them? You practice their beliefs?"

"You know what I mean."

"Didn't they torture animals and young children?"

"No! See, this is why I didn't want to tell you! I knew you would do this."

"Do what? Ask you about a culture you claim to be part of?"

"I knew you'd make fun of it. Act like this is all beneath you."

"Fine. Tell me about this still thriving culture you are going to introduce me to."

Jou stopped eating to sigh deeply. He shrugged. "We're indigenous. There are, like, 20,000 of us left."

Seto waited. "And?" he asked eventually.

Jou shrugged again. "Mom didn't talk about this stuff. Dad didn't care 'cause he's American, and ain't like they're all one thing anyway. But growing up, she used to get bullied so she doesn't bring it up too much."

"So you know nothing about your alleged heritage."

Jou resealed his bento. "I'm going to sleep. Wake me when they announce Tomakomai."

Seto had heard that tone before. That dead, shutdown, I-am-not-discussing-it tone. Some of their worst arguments had come from Seto pushing that tone.

Besides, Jou clearly misunderstood the situation. Seto pulled out his phone and began typing.

\+ - * / + - * / 

Jou woke up as Seto opened the cabin door.

"Good. I was afraid I'd actually have to wake you. We don't have time for that. We're nearly there."

"K." Jou yawned. "Gimme sec."

"Sapporo! End of the line, Sapporo!" A passing conductor yelled.

That brought Jou alert. "Sapporo! Aw, come on! You said you'd wake me at Tomakomai."

"I changed our plans. Get your bag."

Jou glared at him as they disembarked the train and made their way to a car rental. He sat sullen and resentful as Seto programmed his GPS and began driving.

They rode in silence for a time.

"Did you ever wonder why I had a yacht docked on the Nile?"

"Huh?"

"The final duel. In Egypt. Did you ever wonder why I had a yacht docked on the Nile?"

"Not really. You always had whatever you wanted back then. KaibaCorp's everywhere."

"Not the corporation, me. My yacht, my condo. In Giza."

Jou sighed. "All right, I'll bite. I donno, Kaiba, why do you have a yacht on the Nile."

"I'm half Egyptian."

"What."

Seto continued to drive, looking straight ahead. "My father - my birth father - was born in Tokyo but both of his parents were Egyptian immigrants. Father took Mother and I to see the pyramids just before we learned she was with Mokuba. Thanks to Gozaburo, however, for most of my life I knew nothing about that heritage."

He pulled into an empty lot and parked.

"I am angry with you for two reasons. Firstly, because you don't trust me enough to know that your blended bloodline means nothing to me."

Jou swallowed and nodded. "Ok. Right. I didn't. Sorry, babe."

"Accepted."

"What's the second thing?"

"You know nothing about your history."

"I see Grandma once a year, maybe, and Mom doesn't really talk about it."

"And since there are no websites, museums, or other sources, there is no other way to learn?"

He half smiled. "I'm not really a study kinda guy." He glanced out the window. "Are we sitting here for a reason?"

"Yes. We are waiting for the museum to open."

"The museum?"

"The museum of Ainu Culture. They open at 9am. You may not mind ignorance, but I wish to greet your grandmother properly. If she is tattooed, then I'm sure she follows traditional customs. I was able to find a great deal about their faith - rather similar to Shintoism, I think - and even an interesting bit about marriage proposals, but very little about the language or guest. So I'm hoping to learn more in," he looked at his watch, "three hours. In the meantime, I'd like to catch a bit more sleep."

Seto played with his seat adjustments, and leaned back as far as possible.

Jou followed suit, leaning his seat back to match.

"Kaiba?"

"Yes?"

"Our kids are gonna be Japanese-Egyptian-Ainu."

"Hmm," he said.

I wonder if there's a coffee blend for that, he thought.


End file.
